Avoiding Gestational Diabetes

Women who exercise regularly before conceiving are less likely to develop diabetes during pregnancy, according to a Harvard study. Brisk walking before pregnancy reduced the risk of gestational diabetes by 34 percent compared with walking at an easy pace. In contrast, women who watched at least 20 hours of television each week and did not exercise before pregnancy were twice as likely as exercisers to develop gestational diabetes. While lifelong physical activity clearly matters, previous studies show that women can also reduce their risk of diabetes by exercising during pregnancy.